If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will be required to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Staining Mystery

01-28-2008, 09:10 AM

Hi All,

I was finishing a maple mirror frame the other day. I had stained it twice with Dark Mahogany penetrating stain and put on 2 coats of poly. I had a small sand through on the face that I couldn't fix and it was bugging me, so I sanded it all off and restained it.

Much to my surprise, the new coat of stain ended up to be darker, fuller and more even than the first results. I could never get that kind of finish on maple by just staining, it was always lighter than I wanted and a bit uneven.

Does anybody know why this happened? Did sealing the wood with the stain/poly combo create this result? I'd like to reproduce it, but not sure what made it happen.

It could be a couple things. Did the areas that you burned through show darker, or was it the whole piece? If it's just the burned areas they may be rougher than the surrounding area and will show slightly darker. Second I have never really stained, sealed, and stained again. However I have noticed the longer you leave the stain the deeper / darker it will get. This is just home production stain and lacquer advise.